


Eliot Lost—The Piece of His Heart Job

by crayonbreakygal



Series: The Team Lost [1]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 17:54:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6576586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joining the team had been easy.  Staying would put him on a path to redemption.  Takes place pre-series, first and second season, ending during The Maltese Falcon Job, season two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eliot Lost—The Piece of His Heart Job

**Author's Note:**

> Second in a series about what each character lost to end up where they needed to be.

Eliot Lost—The Piece of His Heart Job

Eliot lost.  Lost himself on that field so far away from home, as he pulled that trigger, felling the man with a long beard and a need to kill him back.  He failed when he told Aimee he couldn’t do it, disappearing before he could give her an answer.  He failed as he took lives that didn’t deserve the twisted justice that he served.  He failed as he shook his head in agreement with a monster, one that ran guns, ran drugs, killed people for just being in the way.  He’d never be able to fix that, make up for all the wrong he’d done in the world. Then he lost the best thing that ever happened to him, all because he didn’t do his job.

He lost his family.  It was subtle, almost like drifting away from a past he really decided he didn’t want to remember.  He was good, once.  When he put that uniform on, so long ago, a lifetime ago, he thought he was doing good.  Only the war he fought wasn’t good or righteous.  It was hard and numbing and ultimately, made him lose that joy he felt he had when he joined up in the first place.  He defended his country, but no one was there to pick up the pieces when he was done with it, when they were done with him.

The government had him do odd jobs here and there, but he lost because he was taught to kill, destroying any ability to feel and return that feeling for someone else.  Aimee suffered the consequences of that.  He couldn’t show her what he felt.  He didn’t even know what that was.  In the end, it was better to give her to another man, one that would protect and love her the way he didn’t think he could.

He lost the goodness he tried to foster his whole life.  Once being abandoned, he floated around, doing job after job, not realizing that there were consequences.  He attracted the wrong element, eventually falling in with that element that he so abhorred for so long.  Damian Moreau attracted that part of him, the part where he thought he deserved what he got.  Moreau turned him into something he never thought he could be: a killing machine with no remorse.  One job after another wore him down, making him cold and dangerous.

One day he encountered a family who had gotten in the crosshairs of Moreau’s organization.  He was sent to get rid of them, each and every one of them.  He just couldn't.  It was a family, small children.  They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time seeing the wrong things.  That broke him even more.  He didn’t kill innocent people, although it had happened more times than he wanted to count.  In the end, he helped them escape, handed them over to people he could trust and disappeared yet again.  He was a shadow of his former self.  Better to not be caught and keep off of Moreau’s radar.

He lost his team.  Joining the team had been easy.  It was supposed to be a big payday once they stole those plans for an airplane.  Working with other people was not his style.  His style was to retrieve and disappear to never be seen again.  Hardison, Parker and the asshole Ford were actually fun to be around, although annoying at times.  Not receiving payment though, that pissed him off.  He’d have to work with the others again if he were to fix his reputation and get revenge on Dubenich.  Pulling a beautiful woman into the mix just heightened the excitement, although Nate seemed to have an attachment to Sophie that perplexed him.

The job ended with the biggest payday that he had ever had.  He could retire, hide on some island and never punch again.  Only it was not to be.  The team pulled him back, made him realize he missed working with people who actually attempted to do good.  Damn Nate Ford and his streak of righteousness.  It felt good to scam some asshole who stole millions from the little guy.  Sure, the team was annoying in their own way, but arguing with Hardison was better than a gun to the face any day.  The hiccups along the way weren’t what he expected, but he dealt.  Each person had made him feel like he belonged, relying on him to back them up, not asking if he knew how.

Hardison was such the geek, it amazed Eliot that he lasted doing what he did.  He had no sense whatsoever.  Parker, as he had said once of her being twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag, was a live wire at best, a time bomb at worst.  But she was good at what she did.  Sophie was probably the best actress he had ever met, although never on the stage.  There she was the worst.  Nate, damn his addictions and control issues, was the smartest strategist he had ever worked for.  His relationship with the grifter would sometimes drive the rest of them crazy, but they kept it together, barely. 

Sophie leaving though had messed up the dynamic.  Sure, sending Tara Cole in to help out was genius on Sophie’s part.  It just didn’t work that well though. Nate’s erratic behavior was the problem.  After taking down Ian Blackpoole, he had actually pulled himself out of the gutter, but he was worse without the drinking.  It scared Eliot sometimes to watch how ruthless the man had gotten.  It was never punching or torturing that Nate did.  It was downright scary when he took down a CEO.  The CEO usually deserved what he or she got, Eliot wasn’t complaining. 

His team was broken.  Sophie was gone, Nate had started drinking again, Parker seemed lost most days, Hardison didn’t know where to turn when things went south.  Begging Sophie to come back to save them didn’t appeal to Eliot whatsoever.  She was an adult and had made that decision.

It was only when the last con started going south that Eliot thought all was really lost, as in they could be dead after this one. Nate’s erratic behavior reached a crescendo, the others were perplexed on what to do next, they had kidnapped a mayor and it was all spinning out of control.  Tara was right; they’d have to skip town with the clothes on their backs.  They were backed into a corner on this one.

Sophie swooping in to save the day, again, made him feel better than he had in months. Hell, that was usually his job, but Sophie would do just fine.  She had an exit plan, a strategy that Nate had forgotten existed.  You rely on your team’s strengths to get you out of the situation.  He didn’t do that, leaving them trapped on a large ship with the FBI breathing down their necks.  Only in the end, Ford had saved them, sacrificing his own freedom for the rest of them.  The deal had been made behind his back apparently, making Sterling the obvious culprit to turn Nate.  He was sure that was what Sterling wanted: Nate to turn against his family.  Sterling didn’t know Nate at all.

Only even that did not go as planned.  Eliot could smell the tang of blood that had started to seep through Nate’s shirt.  None of the others knew that the mastermind could die, but he wasn’t going to ruin Nate’s plan because it was the only plan in place that would work.  He’d die without a hospital.  There was only so much Eliot could patch up with needle and thread.

As he led the rest of them to the helicopter to freedom, he watched as Nate collapsed on the deck.  Sterling reached for the man, thank goodness, so maybe he wasn’t as cold hearted as he acted.  As the helicopter rose, Eliot thought strategy, how they were going to rescue their leader, how his role had potentially changed in the group. 

Hardison became frantic beside him, gesturing for them to put on the headphones that were available so they could actually talk.  Before he could get his on, Parker screamed, attempting to open the door that he had just slammed a few minutes before.  Instinctually, Sophie grabbed the thief, not knowing what had transpired on the ship below.

“Parker, it’s OK,” Sophie soothed, giving the blonde woman a headset.

“No, he lied.  Eliot.  We have to go back.”

His hand held tight against hers, willing her to calm down so he wouldn’t have to physically restrain her any more.

“What the hell happened down there, Eliot?” Hardison asked.

This is not how he wanted to tell the others.

“Nate was shot.”

“What?” Sophie bellowed, tears forming again in her eyes.

“You knew?” Parker mirrored Sophie in response.

“Kadjic.  Must have hit him when Nate locked the door.”

All the voices at once in his head almost made him dizzy. From the fight not more than ten minutes before, to the realization that he was not able to save Nate from himself and Sterling, Eliot’s vision swam.

“We’ll get him back.  I promise you, we’ll get him back.  He needs a doctor, a real doctor.”

Parker put her head between her knees, hiding her head from the rest of them.  Sophie tentatively reached for the blonde hair, stroking it to try and help her.  Hardison kept tapping on his phone, eyes scanning what he could pull with the small device. 

He lost that day.  He lost their leader, he lost the con, he lost their mission.  Only now they had a more important mission.  He had to keep them all together, make sure they kept on point to survive this.  It was his job to protect this group against the rest of the world.  And he’d die trying.  Sophie grabbed his hand, pulling his eyes to hers, begging him to help her fix it.

He squeezed her small fingers in solidarity, nodding to Hardison when he looked up, holding onto Parker so she wouldn’t jump out with his other hand.

They were a team, and dammit, he wasn’t going to lose them ever again.  He finally had something that was his and his only.  His family.  Redemption sure was a bitch.


End file.
